Robert Hengeveld's "Staging the Gap"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Video Pool Media Arts Centre presents
Robert Hengeveld's "Staging the Gap"

Robert Hengeveld's exhibition Staging the Gap will no longer be presented at Unit 3 - 300 Main Street. Instead the exhibition will presented at Video Pool's studio (3rd Floor, 100 Arthur Street).

Winnipeg, MB (July 2, 2008) – Video Pool Media Arts Centre is very pleased to present Staging the Gap, a provocative media installation by Toronto-based artist, Robert Hengeveld.

Staging the Gap is a miniature model of a concert stage with silently animated lights and smoke. The work explores the relationship of fact and fiction in a technologically mediated world. Hengeveld critically reflects on the mechanisms used to deliver popular culture by focusing on how visual effects – stage lights, pyrotechnics, and dry ice – are used at concerts to shape our understanding of what we hear. Ignoring society’s desire for the spectacle of performance, the stage created by the artist remains empty while a precisely orchestrated light show plays out.

Accompanying the miniature stage is a series of headphone each playing a different audio track specifically composed in response to the orchestrated light show. This inverts the traditional relationship of audio and visual experience in concert settings and addresses the role of audio in shaping our understanding of the world.

Hengeveld's model stage measures 2.5m2 to establish a scale at which viewers are encompassed by the work, yet still feel slightly detached. Next, he coaxes audiences from their suspended disbelief into his alternate reality by offering a familiar space and encouraging them to relate in a familiar manner. This subtle slip from the norm creates a situation that challenges preconceptions while fostering a reevaluation of our spatial environments and our positions within them.

This exhibition runs from July 29 – August 21, 2008 and will be available weekdays from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Video Pool's Studio (100 Arthur Street, 3rd Floor).

Exhibition Launch: Friday, July 25
Artist talk begins at 6:00 p.m. in Winnipeg Film Group's Studio; Reception will follow at Video Pool – both venues are on the 3rd floor at 100 Arthur Street.

ARTIST BIO -- Robert Hengeveld completed his MFA at the University of Victoria in 2005 and received a Fine Arts Diploma and Certificate from Georgian College, and an AOCAD from the Ontario College of Art and Design. He has exhibited his work across Canada and internationally, and has participated in artist residencies in both Canada and Scotland. He is currently living and working in Toronto.

These exhibition is presented thanks to generous financial support from:



VIDEO POOL MEDIA ARTS CENTRE is a non-profit artist run centre dedicated to advancing the discipline of media art by providing media artists, non-profit organizations and community groups with access to professional video and media equipment, training, distribution and programming. Video Pool strives to be a national leader fostering innovation, experimentation, critical dialogue and advocacy in media arts.

Contact:
Milena Placentile, Programming Coordinator
Video Pool Media Arts Centre
#300-100 Arthur St., Winnipeg MB R3B 1H3
http://www.videopool.org
http://videopool.blogspot.com
204.949.9134 x 1

"Hello, Winnipeg! Are you ready to rock?"

Check out this great review by Stacey Abramson of Robert Hengeveld's Staging the Gap, which is on now in Video Pool's third floor studio.

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"Hello, Winnipeg! Are you ready to rock?"
Exhibit shows how stagecraft changes concert experience
August 7th, 2008

Do you remember your very first major arena concert? Remember that unmistakable feeling of excitement when the band or artist you no doubt paid a large amount of money to see walked on stage amidst the flash of lights, booming speakers and, most importantly, that sweet, muggy scent of dry ice and smoke?

It's a pretty intense and thrilling feeling.

My real first encounter with this exhilaration (however embarrassing) was seeing Bon Jovi and Skid Row when I was only eight years old. I remember being blown away when the fireworks blasted simultaneously with key guitar chords and Jon bounced across the catwalk set up along the front section of the Winnipeg Arena.

This culture surrounding arena shows and large venue concerts has mesmerized audiences since that day when smoke first met spotlight and magic was made. Toronto-based artist Robert Hengeveld has attempted to capture everything that encompasses this in his interactive installation, Staging the Gap.

Winnipeg Square was to be the installation place, but due to concerns surrounding the tiny puffs of dry ice that jet out at timed intervals, the venue had to be shifted. The piece has now been installed on the third floor of Video Pool Media Arts Centre's production space in the blue screen room where patrons experience a unique concert.

Inside the unlit space sits a miniature white amphitheatre with a glowing red button. Once the viewer presses the button, the ride begins. The stage begins to glow with tiny sets of stage lights. It's pretty funny to see a baby stage be overcome with its own theatrics. The viewer must now choose a set of headphones to experience the work (although I suggest watching the work through as many soundtracks as you can).

Eight separate headphones stream different soundtracks, specifically created to co-ordinate with the light show. A woman scats and screams on one set, while Bohemian Rhapsody gets a Star Wars twist on another. Each soundtrack gives the stage a very different feeling. While piano chords creep through the spotlights on one set of headphones, a dramatic and synthetic soundtrack plays. Hengeveld lets the viewer choose multiple genres and emotions through which to experience the work.

While the work may seem like something of a novelty, Hengeveld is commenting on how different the concert and musical experience becomes with the addition of smoke and lights. The stage in Hengeveld's installation is where the viewer examines the connections between music and theatrics. When thinking of the lip-synching glamour girls and boys of popular music, this concept becomes clearer in a Marshall McLuhan-esque fashion -- the medium is the message.

By leaving nothing on stage except technical theatrical devices, the artist lets the viewer connect with the stage environment and become slightly detached from the music. The viewer gets to experience the smoke and mirrors separate from the live performance. The spectacle takes hold of the musical experience.

Though the premise behind the work may be a heavier look into the semiotics of live performances, the result is playful and engaging. It is also a great example of good, fun art, as it's an entertaining work that can be appreciated on many levels. And let's face it: everyone loves a good show.

freep.artreview@gmail.com

Art Review
Staging the Gap by Robert Hengeveld
Video Pool Media Arts Centre
300-100 Arthur St.
To Aug. 21

We’ve reached the end… or have we?

Wow! The past 5 weeks has just been a whirlwind of excitement!

We have:

• Successfully launched six new commissions
• Witnessed four performances (one of which is ongoing and will continue until May 23)
• Enjoyed three receptions
• Welcomed a TON of visitors, some of whom experienced Video Pool programming for the very first time.

… And that was just for our 25th Anniversary programming! We also hosted a performance lecture by Jeanne Randolph on May 8, which involved an enjoyable reception.

Everything has worked out wonderfully and, in about a month, we'll have a ton of photos, and maybe even some video documentation to share.

Thanks are owed to…

The artists: Sharon Alward, Daniel Barrow, Peter Courtemanche & Lori Weidenhammer, Richard Dyck, Jeanne Randolph, Steven Loft, and Victoria Prince.

The curators: Sigrid Dahle and Grant Guy.

Our presentation partners: aceartinc., ADHERE+DENY, The Duke of Kent Legion, PLATFORM, Plug in ICA, the Rachel Browne Theatre (formerly Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers Studio), and the Winnipeg Film Group.

Our technicians: Ian August, Daniel Ellingsen, Rick Fisher, Mike Germaine, and Ken Gregory.

Our hospitality sponsor: The Line Up

And most importantly, thank you to our generous funders: The Winnipeg Arts Council through the New Creations Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Winnipeg Foundation, On Screen Manitoba, and the W.H. & S.E. Loewen Foundation.

Thank you!

On that note, we want to let you know that it’s not over yet!

Through a very generous contribution of the Manitoba Arts Council, beginning in the fall, we will host a series of four artist talks that will give a history of media arts on the prairies in a setting that will, most importantly help to forge new connections between Video Pool’s senior members and our growing generation of new practitioners. Stay tuned for more information!

Coming up next… Robert Hengeveld’s media installation, Staging the Gap. More info coming soon!

Change of Exhibition Venue!

Robert Hengeveld's exhibition Staging the Gap will no longer be presented at Unit 3 - 300 Main Street. Instead the exhibition will presented at Video Pool's studio (3rd Floor, 100 Arthur Street).

All are invited to enjoy the interactive audio and electronics of this detailed concert stage diorama daily from 12 - 5. The artist will be in attendance for the exhibition opening, Friday, July 25th; the exhibition will run until August 21.